November 16, 2021 - The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) and the Developmental Disabilities Council partners have come together to host two webinar series, one in Spanish and one in English, to give parents and caregivers information about the new COVID-19 vaccines for children ages five to 11. The webinars have been scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 17 and Wednesday, Dec. 8.
GCDD together with its partners are working together to make sure Georgians, especially those with intellectual developmental disabilities, in all communities throughout the state of Georgia have information and access to get vaccinated. The Nov. 17 webinar will be in Spanish and will feature Dr. Nelly Mizrahi of Emory Healthcare. Dr Mizrahi practices family medicine at Emory and is a fluent Spanish speaker. Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, the Chief of the Developmental Disabilities branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is the guest speaker for the Dec. 8 webinar. Both Mizrahi and Yeargin-Allsopp will share facts regarding the COVID-19 vaccination in this younger population to address misinformation about where to go for and what is required to get vaccinated.
Naomi Williams is the GCDD Covid-19 Vaccination Project Coordinator and is helping Georgians get information about Covid-19. Through these two webinars GCDD and its partners hope to inform and educate as many people as possible about the new vaccine for children ages five to 11.
“We're excited that COVID-19 vaccinations have been approved and are now available for children 5 years old and older. This is another step in protecting our families and community. We understand that while we are excited about this opportunity, there might be parents and caregivers who may have concerns or questions that they'd like addressed before having their child vaccinated,” said Williams. “For this reason, the DD Network has collaborated to offer informational webinars in English and Spanish featuring metro Atlanta physicians to share their expertise about COVID. While our focus is towards parents and caregivers of children living with intellectual and developmental disabilities, we welcome all who are interested to join us.”
FOCUS is one of GCDD’s partners who helped coordinate the webinars. Their mission is to embrace and equip families of children with disabilities to make everyday life better.
“FOCUS is pleased to be part of this important effort to get information about the COVID-19 vaccine to parents and caregivers of children ages 5-11,” said Frances McBrayer. “Many of those FOCUS serves have additional vulnerabilities to COVID-19, and this webinar will allow parents to ask important questions and gain knowledge on how to best protect their children. We are very pleased to offer this webinar in both English and Spanish and hope to get information to as many people as possible.”
Dr. Natalia Benza, a pediatrician from Dunwoody who sees mostly Spanish Speaking families, will also be on the Nov. 17 webinar. Dr. Jennifer Zubler, a community pediatrician who is helping to vaccinate kids with disabilities and Yameika Head who is a pediatrician from Macon, will also be on the December 8th webinar. Katie Wester-Neal, PhD is a parent of a five-year old who got vaccinated will also be speaking on the Dec. 8 webinar. Both webinars will be accessible through the provision of both American Sign Language interpretation and closed captioning by a CART transcriptionist.
All are welcomed to attend either webinar, but registration is required.
To register for the Spanish speaking webinar scheduled for Nov. 17 at 6 p.m., click here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMlfu2uqDIsGdV59UkBncrb8XHx2Y5juNWV
To register for the English webinar on Dec. 8 at 6 p.m., click here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMudumgqjopEt1777ZW3K57knvUkjf6Lc0i
After registering for each meeting, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the zoom meetings. For more information about GCDD or the upcoming COVID-19 webinars, please visit www. gcdd.org.
This article appeared in the Savannah News Online on 11/16/21.